Community Health Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, good morning, everybody. It is 10.01 a.m., and we'll officially begin the Community Health Committee meeting today on August 27th, 2026. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Alderete-Gavito, Council Member Mesa-Gonzalez, Council Member White, Council Member Castillo, Chair Galvan. Here. Sir, we have a quorum.

Thank you so much. First things first, can we get an approval for the minutes for the meeting on June 25th, 2026? Yes. All those in favor of approving the minutes? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Great. Do we have any public comment or folks set up? Great. Then we will jump right into it. We have a jam-packed meeting today, all things related to climate. Of course, our Office of Resilience and Sustainability is doing a lot of really good work, and we have some special guests as well from VIA to talk about some other work that they're doing in this space as well. But we'll kick it off straight into the update on the SA Climate Ready planning implementation. Laura, go for it.

Thank you, Chair. Good morning. Good morning, committee members. My name is Laura Patino, and I'm the Director of Resilience and Sustainability for the City of San Antonio. So today we have three items on the agenda. They'll highlight the important work that is underway to strengthen San Antonio's resilience and advance our climate action and adaptation goals. I'll begin with an update on the SA Climate Ready, which is San Antonio's climate and adaptation plan, before turning it over to Doug Melnick, assistant director for the department. You'll also hear from Golda Obinzu, who is our department administrator, on the second item, which is municipal energy programs. And then you will hear from both Razi Hosseini from VIA as well as Leslie Antunes, our program administrator for the Department of Resilience and Sustainability on public transit and capital infrastructure. You'll see as well that I've provided you with our Department of Resilience and Sustainability's annual report. It highlights the progress of our team and partners that have made to date in 2026. Let's begin with SA Climate Ready. In 2019, City Council adopted SA Climate Ready, which is our roadmap for sustainability and climate resilience. The plan puts equity at the center and connects climate action with the things that directly affect our community, clean air, public health, water security, economic opportunity, mobility, energy, and emergency preparedness. But SA Climate Ready was never intended to be a static document. Our approach has been iterative over the years. And since 2015, our work has evolved with new climate data, updated risk assessments, carbon reduction goals, and the changing needs of our community. That is why the plan calls for an update every three to five years to assess our progress, revisit what is feasible and relevant, and to ensure our strategies reflect where San Antonio is today and where we need to go next. So briefly, SA Climate Ready includes more than 90 mitigation strategies to reduce or prevent emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, and 45 adaptation strategies that help our community prepare for or reduce to climate impacts. These strategies translate into action from reducing energy use and expanding renewable energy to cleaner transportation, green development, and stronger emergency preparedness and protecting public health. And importantly, this is not the work of just one department. Resilience and sustainability are citywide priorities, and our department helps coordinate this work across city departments and with external partners to turn these strategies into action. So here are a few examples of SA Climate Ready in action. We're addressing extreme heat through the Heat Resilience Playbook and implementation of cool pavements and tree plantings and cool roofs. We're strengthening neighborhoods through the Climate Ready Neighborhood Network. We're expanding mobility options through programs like our e-bike initiative, which received nearly 3,000 applications for our phase two. and we're making city infrastructure more resilient through municipal solar and sustainability measures in capital projects. That's how we're turning SA Climate Ready from a plan into action. We're seeing measurable progress in San Antonio, and that is why you have this report with you today. The images on the slide are just snippets of what is included more in detail in the annual report that you have. We've established 20 neighborhood resilience pods in partnership with local businesses and nonprofits. In heat-vulnerable neighborhoods, we've planted nearly 400 trees, installed cool pavement in 149 streets, and completed more than 2,000 cool roofs since the program started. We're advancing fleet electrification, and we are the largest municipal onsite solar program in the state of Texas. And that solar program is expected to offset 11% of municipal electricity use. And since 2011, we've completed 439 energy efficiency projects, now generating roughly over $1 million in annual utility savings. Most importantly, this work is shaped by our community with more than 11,000 residents engaged through surveys, workshops, and events. So before I hand it over to Doug, I want to emphasize that we cannot do this work alone. Partners like CPS, SAWS, VIA, and San Antonio River Authority are critical to our success, from clean energy and water conservation to mobility and protecting our waterways. So climate resilience is a shared responsibility, and these partnerships are essential to moving San Antonio and SA Climate Ready goals forward. With that, I'll hand it over to Doug Melnick. Thank you.

Thank you, Laura. Good morning, Chair and committee members. Doug Melnick, Assistant Director of the Department of Resilience and Sustainability. So I would just like to pivot to some data points that we use for our climate work. The first one will be talking a little bit about our emissions, the greenhouse gas emissions. Those are some very important data that we use looking at long-term goals, such as meeting carbon neutrality by 2050. And then the other will be looking at our latest climate projections report, which really maps out what the future holds in terms of localized weather looking out towards the end of the century. So in terms of our greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas emissions are produced whenever we burn fossil fuels, whenever we dispose of waste in landfills, they decompose and release methane. That's what's driving global climate change. And while this is a global issue, the causes and impacts are felt locally. So we use an international protocol that makes consistency in our process so we can benchmark against cities nationally and internationally. We basically get data that looks at where our energy consumption is occurring, looks at mobility emissions, and it looks at solid waste emissions. What this chart shows is per capita emissions going back from 2013. The blue line is population. So you can see our population has continued to increase while our per capita emissions have gone down. So that is a good result. outcome. Our population increases but our emissions are continuing to reduce. However, when we look at our long-term goal out by 2050, it's based upon gross emissions, not per capita. And what you can see is we had peak emissions back in 2013 at about 19 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, and we've flattened out since then. And so the idea of peak emissions is very important because at least our emissions aren't continuing to rise. We just completed our 2023 emissions inventory. We're starting work on our 2025. We've seen a 10% decrease between 2013 and 2023, which is great. Between 2021 and 2023, we saw a small 2% increase. I want to point out that that is not unusual. When we look at cities across the country, nobody has a direct path straight down to where they need to go. There's always going to be bumps along the road. A lot of it is also weather-driven. But what this shows is we need to continue on track to meet our long-term goal, a 68% reduction by 2030. That's a lot. The other thing before we came to present to you today, we looked at some other peer cities just to see how they're doing, and it's a very similar profile where I think a lot of cities have seen stabilization, but they're not seeing the downward trend. The only exception to that is... cities that have increased density and more mass transit opportunities. I think they're making a bit of better progress. But cities like San Antonio are sort of challenged. Now, again, the reasons are these are big systemic issues that need to occur. When we start talking about really reducing emissions It's transforming our transportation and our energy sectors, which is a big challenge. And locally, that's occurring. We're seeing CPS decarbonize and improve the efficiency of their energy production, and we're seeing the deployments of advanced rapid transit. So there's a lot of good things going on that should hopefully help us bend this curve. So I want to pivot to climate projections. It just gives us a window into the future. And when we first started doing this climate work was back in 2015. So we've updated our climate projections in 2018. 2021, and now we have this current report that we're just finalizing now, but we wanted to give you a glimpse. We also think there's a lot of methodology and data behind this that, if interested, this could be something we could come back and bring the UT researchers here to dive in a little more, if interested. What this shows is a consistent trend that we've been seeing for years. This basically, the data here is based upon, there's different emission scenario that the researchers used depending upon how quickly we globally can reduce emissions. Unfortunately, we're tracking towards the higher emissions scenario, and so that's what these numbers are based on. But basically, we'll see more days over 105, basically potentially by late century 16, four times more heat waves. The big thing that we're also going to see is it's not going to cool off at night, and I'm noticing that now, going out to bring my recycling out at 10 o'clock at night, and it's hot. And so that's a big issue with people being able to, again, it affects utility bills, and at the same time, public health and being able to cool down homes. We're also expected to see a 4 to 7 degree increase in average temperatures, and the new normal could potentially be hitting 108 degrees. And then we'll see three times more days over 100 degrees by end of century. On the precipitation side, nothing really surprising here that should surprise. It's going to get drier, so more droughts. But when we do experience precipitation, it's going to be more severe, which will lead to more flash flooding. And then, of course, the warmer it gets, we'll see fewer hard freezes overnight. So we're currently finalizing this report. We're working with the researchers to basically work on how we best frame this message for different stakeholders, because this does have implications for our community. And then how do we use this data? There's an opportunity to use it looking forward, that if we are designing stormwater projects, if we're doing health planning or utility planning, What does this data mean for how we're designing stormwater infrastructure or our roads or ensuring that our utility infrastructure is prepared or that we are developing heat relief systems for future heat impacts? So I'm just going to really quickly go through where we are with this SA Climate Ready implementation plan that we are working on. As Laura had mentioned, it's a big comprehensive plan. There's 135 strategies. We're implementing it. But we are trying to do right now is really target and prioritize. From those 135 strategies, where should we really be focused on? Where do we really need to be by 2035? And this is really becoming standard practice across cities, across the country. Everybody's got these big plans, but we really need to refine what we really need to do. So we're currently in the middle of a process where, again, we're not getting rid of the 2019 plan. That is still our baseline plan. But we are going through to prioritize. Of those strategies in there, what is important? At the same time, really refining the metrics by which we are going to implement this plan. Greenhouse gas inventory is great, but again, as described, there's a lot that we can't control with that. But what are the more refined targets that we should be looking at, whether it's around mobility or public health or tree canopy? So we'll be working with our subcommittee on that. And then really sort of the core to this is making sure that we are producing a cost benefit evaluation for you all in the community to really understand there's costs with everything. And then we can also quantify what the benefits and the impacts are. So we have a council-appointed advisory committee, SA Climate Ready Advisory Committee, that is our steering committee for implementing this plan. They had created three subcommittees to help with this implementation plan development, energy and buildings, transportation and mobility, and natural systems. the core focus areas of this plan and i just wanted to show you briefly the the representation of the subcommittee it was really important that we had that diverse representation representation there we have business and industry we have got technical experts engineers we have our institutional partners and we have community representatives because again every sector needs to have a voice in in this plan in order to make sure that is it is implemented So engagement, of course, like everything that we do at COSA, is extremely important to make sure that we are hearing what our community believes and the direction that they would like to go. So our engagement is really broken up into three components. The first was really testing and checking with our community just what are their views around this issue and some of their initial priorities. The next step will be once we have our draft list of actions that we believe need to be prioritized, bringing that out to the community and stakeholders to get their feedback. And then finally, when we have an actual draft implementation plan, we'll bring that out. And on the right, you can just see some of our mechanisms that we're using. Our advisory committee and subcommittees are really windows into the community and really empowering them to take the message out as well as bring back what they hear. We have an internal city group that is meeting to not only help with sort of the broader community action plan, but we'll also be creating an updated municipal plan. What are we doing organizationally to make sure that we are doing everything we can before we start going out and really looking for others to take over. And then finally, the really the broad community. And that's that's a combination of really making sure that we're hitting every city council district. We're not just relying on emails and surveys, but getting into the community and listening and then also working with our community and faith based partners to empower them to have these conversations. And so here's just the results of one survey that we had this summer. We had about a little over 2000 responses. You know, the priorities that we heard from them were they're worried about cooler neighborhoods. They're also connecting the heat to increased utility costs, which was also identified as a concern, and just overall healthier communities in terms of food access, mobility options, better jobs, all the quality of life issues that you all hear on a regular basis. And then just some of the survey responses, 81% are concerned about climate. Um, 86% believe that the city should continue working on this area. Uh, 90% believe that this work can really help prepare for, for future weather and environmental impacts. And then 76%, um, believe that this plan can have a, a positive impact. Again, this wasn't a statistically valid survey, but we did, um, get responses from every city council district. And then we also track the demographics. And it's a fairly good representation of the overall city demographics. And then just really high level next steps were right in the spring and fall section where we're conducting community stakeholder engagement. And we're also working with our subcommittees on coming up with that top list of actions and targets. And then basically in the fall we'll begin pushing those findings out to the community and other stakeholders for feedback. We'll be launching our internal municipal plan development. And the goal is by the end of the year to have some preliminary draft recommendations for council to consider, to give us some feedback with the goal of having an updated implementation plan by spring of 2027. And with that, the team will be available for questions.

Thank you so much, Laura and Doug. Would anybody like to start the conversation today? Sorry, what? Would anyone like to start with comments?

Thank you so much for the presentation and for all the work that you guys are doing. You're one of those small but mighty teams of the city. So I acknowledge that and appreciate all the work you guys do. And I am really glad to hear that we're making progress on our climate and sustainability goals. I think these are goals that don't only benefit our residents' quality of life, but they're smart investments, too, that we're making as a city. And so to be able to do both of those, I think, is extremely important, especially during these difficult times that we're having as an organization. So just a few questions. For each of these programs, what are the implications of the proposed 2027 budget that you believe most impact your ability to deliver these outcomes? Ms.

Thank you, Council Member, for that question. We are seeing three staff reductions in the proposed budget. That is our sustainable transportation manager, our communications manager, and our climate adaptation manager. in addition to some programmatic reductions. Basically, the communications manager will be, their functions will be integrated within the broader consolidation of communications and engagement efforts to avoid duplication. We will be seeing an impact in our mobility and transportation areas. Our sustainable transportation manager is currently managing all of the grant-funded programs such as the e-bike pilot program. We're currently in the second round, which will be distributing 181 vouchers to recipients. The electric vehicle San Antonio EVSA program, which is about educational awareness, as well as our EV charging station program that is funded through that same grant from the DOE that funds the e-bike pilot program. And then we'll also see an impact in terms of our ability to coordinate with the aviation department on the aviation energy master plan. And then for the climate adaptation manager reductions, We are currently evaluating how that work is going to be distributed. We will be seeing a reduction in our ability to coordinate and align with departments as well as how we can accelerate these programs. But we don't foresee any of these programs completely going away from a heat mitigation. It will just impact our ability and reduce capacity for staff to be able to move forward some of these programs.

Okay, thank you. Thank you for that. And for the municipal energy program, are there any financial savings that the city is receiving?

Yes, and we'll be able to cover that in the second item, item number three in the presentation.

For the municipal E-Fleet, I saw the increase in 26. Are there any expansions in 27?

Yes. I'll bring Alex Martinez from BSD to address that specific question.

Good afternoon. Good morning, Council and Committee. Yes, for FY27, we propose to increase it another 20%, so that will give us to about 250 EVs. I also want to clarify that we also have a fleet with hybrids, so when you combine that, it's a larger number on the fleet that we have on energy efficiency. Thank you. Thank you.

For the emissions and the climate projections, obviously it's a new industry, but curious on the if it's able to show any effects on the data center growth?

Yeah, so this was back in 23, so we wouldn't necessarily capture it in that inventory, but I think that's a really good point that we'll want to coordinate with CPS, because basically the majority of the data that we're getting is from CPS, but that would be a good one to see if we could possibly track.

Yeah, just especially with their diesel generators, I want to make sure that that's on the construction side. I understand that. But again, just so it's included, I think would be helpful. Thank you, Doug. And I really just want to acknowledge also the municipal plan. I think it's really important that we're not just telling folks what to do or advising folks, but even looking within our own organization. So just grateful for that municipal plan. I think that's really so important. And I remember in 2019, that was more important than ever because we needed to show that we were doing the same thing that we were asking other industries to do. So thank you again for all your work, and those are all my questions. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, just briefly, thanks for the presentation. Anything in this plan that reduces costs for taxpayers and residents?

Yes, sir. Basically, at the end of the day, that's one of the big drivers. I think the EV fleet is a big example. Electric vehicles require less maintenance cost and also considering fuel increases. their savings with that conversion to the electric vehicle fleet. Our conversion to more distributed solar is very cost effective and can save money. The idea of promoting more mass transit could possibly provide some savings for some individuals in terms of it's cheaper to not necessarily own a car. you sort of get to the key of what we really need to do for this next phase of the plan is to really have those numbers, to basically say that even if there is a cost associated with it, really trying to quantify some of the other benefits. Does it help improve public health outcomes? Does it help improve more mobility options? So I think it's some things are going to have savings, but then other things may not, but then we'll have to have conversations about the implications for those.

Yeah, I think definitely in today's fiscal environment here at the city, I mean, just adding new programs and new mandates and things like that, I mean, that just, to me, and I know many others, just sounds like more money out the door. But if we could show how we're saving.

And then the other thing I would also mention, Councilman, and for the committee, I think the opportunity that we're really trying to leverage today is less what is the city, what we're going to do, but how do we better partner with either our institutional partners or with the business community. How do we outline where they want to be and how they can help as opposed to saying, okay, everybody, you all have to do this. So I think it's more of a partnership and a collaboration as we go forward.

Yeah, and bringing the business community into the conversation I think is extremely important because any of these additional mandates or regulations that negatively impacts what they're doing, That's not good.

We had met with one of the chambers recently. And what's changed between now and back in 2019 is I think they're seeing things are changing, and it's affecting their business. And I think there's an interest in collaborating. It's just collaborating on mutual terms with them.

Yeah, and there's that stereotype out there that, well, they don't care. And no, I think everybody cares about the climate. But the problem arises when we go overboard and we don't take into account the practical realities that these businesses face.

And that's the objective, sir.

Second thing, the updated climate projections, are they going to influence how we prioritize upcoming capital projects or bond dollars or anything like that?

So I think that the opportunity with the projections, I think we need to have an internal conversation about it. It could help with how we design things. I think what we're seeing some cities, particularly from using climate projections in terms of Are we seeing an X percent increase of precipitation over the next 20 years and then potentially designing to that so it can help insulate us from future impacts? So instead of investing a little more now as opposed to rebuilding later on. So I think we just need to have a conversation internally and as with you all is what are the implications for this data? Okay, thanks, Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Alderete-Gavito?

Thank you, I know we just met yesterday, so this is all still fresh, and thanks for y'all's presentation today. I love to see the diverse representation on the subcommittee, that's awesome that y'all were able to pull all these stakeholders together to do that, so thanks for that. I SAW THAT BEAR COUNTY RECENTLY JOINED THE LIST OF COUNTIES REQUIRED TO CONDUCT VEHICLE EMISSIONS TESTING BECAUSE OF OUR POOR AIR QUALITY. SO WHAT MORE CAN THE CITY DO TO IMPROVE OUR AIR QUALITY? AND ARE THERE WAYS THAT WE CAN COMMUNICATE THE CHANGE TO RESIDENTS? SORRY.

YES, WE ARE AS A REGION IN NONATTAINMENT FOR OUR AIR QUALITY. Our opportunities for looking at how to improve air quality range from what is included within our SA Climate Ready, focusing on our natural spaces and green environment. There's also opportunities and best practices that we look at what other cities are doing in terms of how we monitor and how we report, as well as how we work directly with the San Antonio Metro Health District, specifically in terms of how business can register to be able to obtain the permits, the operating permits for their air quality. It is a, you know, broader conversation, I think, directly from what our SA Climate Ready Plan and the activities that our department can help to address our air quality challenges really revolve in terms of our education and awareness in terms of transportation and reducing emissions, and we'll continue to be pushing that through our EVSA program.

I was just thinking, Councilwoman, I think the other part of this is data. We have our regulatory monitors. We've got three of them that are pretty geographically dispersed. I think over the past handful of years, we've been partnering with UTSA on deploying sensors, particularly over in the west side. The primary reason was to capture temperature, but those sensors are also capturing air quality data. So I think there's an opportunity to start getting a more refined understanding of what that localized air quality looks like instead of just relying on these big regulatory monitors that don't necessarily give us that granularity.

Well, and I think from my perspective, what I'm thinking about is what the average San Antonio resident can do to impact air quality. And if that is transportation, hey, don't take your car, take a bike, I mean, I think that's unfair because we don't have protected bike lanes. We don't even have a protected bike lane around Woodlawn Lake Park. Sad. So, I mean, what are the other steps that we could do? To Laura's point, I think it's trying to

incentivize and provide those opportunities for people to make those decisions. You know, I think, um, asking somebody to give up their car, um, they need to have the usable solution, um, not just because they want to improve the air quality. So I think it's, we really need to continue working on our infrastructure. I think there's opportunities, um, to work with, um, major employers, uh, to find opportunities for, you know, if they have thousands of employees, How can we partner to come up with other options where they can incentivize their employees to take different transportation choices? I think continuing to improve the efficiency of our buildings is really going to help drive, because at the end of the day, it's whenever we're using energy, it's releasing something. And so that's the key is how do we drive down those?

And I think also, though, too, like the push doesn't necessarily only need to be on businesses, right? We want businesses carpooling and, you know, those buses and stuff that they have. And obviously we want to push people to Via. But we also have to take a step back and think about holistically, you know, I know we're going to get into Via later on and we talk about shade structures. And we get the complaints all the time from, hey, my bus stop doesn't have a shade structure. But yet, we also have to think about, hey, we're giving ready-to-work money that could have gone to VIA. VIA is extremely underfunded, right? Ready-to-work money could have gone to VIA. Pre-K, 4SA money could have gone to VIA, right? We could have invested in a bus system that has frequent and reliable transportation, but because of our decisions, we don't, right? And so we don't have a frequent and reliable transportation. bus system quite yet. And we also have a lot of bus shelters without shade. And so, you know, what I was getting at is that, yes, we need to get the businesses too, but I also think that there's probably an internal push, right? Like, it would be awesome if y'all's team pushed on the transportation team to say, we've got a lot of bike plans. What are we doing to implement them? Because we can't ask people to take bikes if we're not giving them a usable solution to get to work. And so I think that what I'm saying is that the pressure needs to be collective from all of us, from all angles, because I think that there's a lot of people who want to do the right thing. But again, to your point, if we're not giving them usable solution, then we're not doing anything. We're spinning in circles.

Thank you. And that really is our role, is behind the scenes, really working cross-departmentally and with external partners. How do we all make sure that we're moving in the right direction?

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Chair.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Laura and Doug, for the presentations. I just wanted to commend you and your team for the cool pavement initiatives and much of the work and heavy lifting that you are doing in community with the Quintana community. I've gone out a couple of times, and this weekend I went back out with Cheyenne and the Quintana community to go tour, you know, where there's a CPS Leon plant, there's fuel refineries, there's sand crushers, there's auto and metal recyclers, such a high concentration And it's also home to the city's like large and I believe only Superfund site, right? All that to say that there's a lot of health disparities, environmental disparities within the Kansana community. I'm so grateful for the work of your team. My concern is with the proposed reductions, particularly with the Climate Adaptation Manager, and potentially what's going to sound like we are going to lose that coordination. With the loss of that role, I know you mentioned they oversee the grants. Would that mean we wouldn't have someone on staff to go after federal grants to potentially support these initiatives? What would that look like? How would that impact going after future grants? And I know we're in a current political climate, but it's going to change. And what position is that going to put the sustainability department to go after any grants if we lose these two positions? Or three, but the two related to management.

Thank you, Council Member, for that question. We are actively monitoring grants at the federal and state level as well as private opportunities, private grants and with philanthropy within our team. We also work closely with our government affairs office that has a grants manager that is actively looking for those opportunities as well. They've been slim for the past few years. And we are getting ready. And part of the SA Climate Ready update is to ensure that the actions that we prioritize are ready to be able to submit for those grant opportunities that would come in the future as we work with additional partners.

Councilman, a couple things that are important. The grants position that she mentioned in the government affairs team was a position that was added, if you recall, when we had the REIS funding, and it was intended to be able to chase grant opportunities from the Inflation Reduction Act, primarily related to, they chase all federal grants, but that was a piece of it. The three positions in sustainability that are being reduced were also positions that were created with that Reese fund. And of course the Reese fund isn't producing the same. Now it's flowing into the general fund. So we, we had a little bit of an expansion during that time and we're having a little bit of a contraction. Um, we agree a hundred percent about the Quintana program and the work that's been done there. Um, The team took me on a drive around there in December, and it's overwhelming, frankly, the number of things that that neighborhood contends with from a sort of environmental standpoint. We're committed to working, as we've talked generally about, finding other positions for folks whose positions are going away. Number one, we're committed to that, but number two, to ensuring that some of the most valuable work out of that effort can continue and be spread across the team. Ultimately, the goal was to help convene groups in the neighborhoods, empower them, and help them stand up and do a lot of that resilience work on their own. So it's going to be a combination of both, but we know the value of that program and don't want to see it go either.

Thank you, I appreciate that clarification. And I'm hopeful that with the reduction in that position, climate adaptation and any opportunity, particularly for soil remediation, continues to be a priority. Cuz I know the Quintana community would very much value that. I also wanted to talk about the advisory committee and the subcommittees, particularly around the natural systems and biodiversity. What was a really good conversation this past weekend was, of course, evident in vast soil contamination within the Kankana community. But we talked about biodiversity, right? And we understand typically with community gardens, the responsibility that comes with that. And oftentimes they get started and then community leaders often get busy and then you again have an overgrown vacant lot. But those are really robust conversation in terms of like cacti and mushroom gardens, right? Which are very low maintenance and also can work to remediate the soil. I'm hopeful that we could continue to explore how we can continue to concentrate on the community to help with soil remediation. And again, what I really valued is these were, to Jeff's point, were organic conversations where residents were coming up with the solutions, asking questions, and just building off one another on what we should be honing in on so I'm just looking forward to continuing to see the advisory committee convene and propose recommendations but ultimately my concern and priority is again right we often have recommendations and policy but it takes resources financial resources to implement so seeing the reduction I believe it's three million is that correct to the budget or two million dollars that are proposed to be reduced Yeah, my concerns, again, with the reduction of $2.4 million to sustainability that will continue to leave Quintana behind. But again, right, this impacts the entire city. Debbie Ponce of Public Citizen provided maps to show the ways in which the wind blows, right? So these contaminants don't just stay in that community, they go all the way to the far west side, the northwest side, and ultimately, it just impacts everyone's air quality. just concerned to see that reduction of 2.4 million to the sustainability department. And just wanted to highlight too, right, part of your plan is how can we help potentially reduce the, rather highlighting how we are going to experience more extreme heat more days that are going to be hotter, but also for our residents, they're going to have to keep the AC on longer or the heater on longer, and it's going to cost them if we don't invest in these areas as well. So just wanted to highlight those components and just thank y'all for y'all's work on this initiative. It's really important. because it impacts just health, overall quality of life. And lastly, just wanted to express the concern because the importance of working with different departments, I think about bioswells. In our district, we have areas where it's not necessarily flooding, but there's issues of ponding and working with sustainability to create a bioswell to address that ponding issue. but that cross-coordination with departments is just really important to be intentional and strategic with our infrastructure dollars. So I'll continue to advocate for you all because you are invaluable to District 5 residents. Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Doug.

Thank you so much. Any other comments on this item?

Okay. A couple quick questions for myself. Really appreciate the questions around the respondent impacts for this upcoming budget cycle. I know we're still getting some grant funding from the Department of Energy related to the e-bike program. Is there any other grants that we're still expecting to receive that will help continue some of that REES funding work? Or is it just continuing to dwindle based on current life?

For the e-bike program?

I guess generally within the REES programs. We're looking at moving away from some of the external work we're doing. Are we seeing any other grant opportunities to continue doing that work?

At this moment, there is no additional funding that has been identified to pursue those specific programs.

Got it. OK.

We, Councilman, there's nothing for local governments, right, really, right now, but I think what we're seeing is there's funding available from foundations for community organizations, and so we basically try to direct those to our partners so they can go after those.

Okay, great. I guess if I can ask a little clarifying on that point, are the staff that are still going to be able to do that work to assist with any kind of, like, assistance for the folks to apply for those grants?

Yes, part of our roles and responsibilities is to provide that coordination and staying plugged in with private funding opportunities that come and even if the city does not become the fiscal administrator of those funds that we can serve as a convener and a connector to those organizations and non-profits and businesses doing the work on the ground that could access those funds.

Okay, I appreciate that. And I guess we would look at, of course, I think Councilor White puts up too a little bit about capital funds related to this work. Of course, I mean, we're seeing it all over the city, but I think about a lot of District 6 where we see some of these major flooding areas in our district that are repeat areas, of course, that we need significant investment in to address. Getting worse by the climate, of course, is also getting worse. And so I'm wondering, I guess, what's the collaboration like with, of course, the departments, along with Sarah, the River Authority for the floodplain kind of reviews there. What does that coordination look like and how we look at our own bond works itself? Sure.

I'll answer that briefly, and then I'll answer that also in the last presentation. The first portion is really incorporated within the SA Climate Ready Planning and Coordination. There is also the Bexar County Regional Watershed Management Group, in which the Department of Resilience and Sustainability, as well as Public Works and Capital Delivery departments involved in and that involves a large group of stakeholders within the region in terms of how we look at flooding and stormwater management. And then we are really following the lead from our capital delivery and public works department in terms of how we can support and identify the integration of low impact development, green stormwater infrastructure, things like bioswales, rain gardens that can be integrated within projects moving forward. Three years ago we had, in addition to the team, a sustainable infrastructure program manager that has been reviewing previous bond projects from 2022 onwards and identifying opportunities and best practices that can be incorporated. Those recommendations have been incorporated in various bond 2022 projects, and the idea is to continue that work to be incorporated in future bond and capital improvement projects as well.

That's great. Is that infrastructure manager or program manager in your department or public works?

Yes, within our department.

Okay. Are there any reports that y'all have from that work? Sorry? Any reports that y'all have that we can review as well about what the implementation's been like and what bond projects have been utilizing?

Yes, we can certainly provide a list of summary recommendations and where they have been implemented.

That's great. I think that's a key part, I think, to Councilor Rao de Gavito's point, too, about whether it's bikes or anything else, right, how are we implementing this work? I know in the Urban Heat Island presentation we got a couple months ago, there was a bit of the showcase, right, of, like, okay, here's all the departments that are implementing these strategies. I wanted... Is that the same kind of analysis being done across the board with other climate-ready initiatives that we have or climate-ready priorities that we have?

We can provide a list of projects that are incorporating and do an evaluation. Would love to just get some detail in terms of how big of a scope that we want to include it so that and evaluate so that we can include it in the report so that it meets what you're looking for. Okay.

And I guess because overall, right, when we're talking about making sure that we're moving past this kind of stagnant issue on emissions or even looking at of course, increasing storms and emergencies in our community. Understanding, I think, which departments are, or how departments are implementing this over time is important for us to be able to understand and keep that accountability internally, as we also look for accountability externally, too, from either party agencies or from business community, et cetera. I think being able to understand that's going to be helpful for us to kind of keep pushing the needle and seeing, okay, well, how much debt do we really need then for our bond projects or for anything else to be able to say that we are moving the needle on these issues with our capital programs. That's at least my thought with some of it. We can talk more, of course, in detail about that, understanding that's a gigantic spreadsheet I'm probably asking for, if not worse. So understood there. Last thing I wanted to, or last two quick things I wanted to ask on this one. I know, Doug, you mentioned significant impacts in other communities going around density and transportation. I know we're going to hear from V a little bit later on their work. I don't know if this is something other than the past that was not familiar. Are you all expecting any UDC amendments in this vein to assist our climate goals? Or what is the coordination like?

Yeah, I think there's two opportunities coming up in 2027 that we want to look at. One is the International Energy Conservation Code is going to be released, the latest version, that we'll want to plug in with DSD's process. And then, yes, the UDC. I think, you know, the last UDC round, we did incorporate some... some items that were more voluntary and just trying to incorporate some language but I think this time we'd really like to again work with DSD and their business and industry groups to really figure out are there things that we can agree upon that may help heat mitigation or may help with flood mitigation. So I think, again, without being too onerous, but finding that, again, that compromise where we can move forward. But yes, those are definitely two tools that we think is an opportunity to weigh in on.

Great. Well, great to hear that. The other last thing I was going to ask was, I know this is, I guess, shifting, of course, with federal changes. I don't know what the market looks like with this, or market interest looks like with this. What's The exploration with green bonds here locally, has that been an exploration here? Is it the city or the county? We can always talk about that another time. I don't know if that was a finance question about what that impact is to our debt and how it looks separate from any other bonds we could try to seek out?

So green bonds have had a history of, you know, being reviewed by municipal governments in terms of just best practice. We have not conducted a review recently of their applicability and our capacity to do that. That's something that we need to work with our finance team to understand where we're at and how would that impact our capacity.

Mr. Okay, great. Good to know. I think, of course, as we're looking at a reduced debt capacity in some way, I don't know what that looks like in totality, right, if we try to do some different form of bonding that still affects this form of debt here. But we're just interested in seeing what that analysis would look like. I don't have the answer for that either. I did not do great in that world. So happy to explore that with you all as well.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Any other last questions? Cool. We'll move into item number three, the municipal energy programs.

Good morning, chair and committee members. My name is Golda Obenzu. I'm the department administrator. This morning I will be going over and giving an update on the municipal energy program. You know, as I was sitting back there and Councilwoman Gonzalez, she had mentioned about municipal programs and kind of what the city is doing and leading by example. So throughout this presentation, I will be just kind of providing what the city has been doing for almost 17 years now. With all the talk with reductions, I at least want to, because I oversee on the energy program side, I do want to at least point out and thank two members that are here within that division, Jennifer DeCoco and Ash Williams. The projects that you will see here, municipal solar, they are doing great work on that, and I really just want to acknowledge that. Before I get into what the city is doing and leading by example, I would first like to just go over the importance of an energy program. The city operates over 1,000 facility on a daily basis through a department like BESD, other libraries, senior centers. And even though the city does own the two utilities, we still pay utilities. In FY25, the city paid $52.9 million. This included electricity, natural gas, water, sewer, and chill water to support Alamo Dome and the Convention Center, almost $53 million. We do know that costs have steadily increased every year, and we control our costs by reducing our consumption. In reducing our energy, we're able to operate and reduce the costs. We're able to produce annual energy savings. You will see that some of the programs that we have in here, it's the first of its kind here for Texas, and it's the only. And we have been doing that for close to 17 years. We are able to have reliable facilities to improve energy response and public services. This also demonstrates responsible stewardship of our taxpayers' dollars. And a piece within our SA climate ready goals, we do have a goal of energy efficiency and being carbon neutral with our facility operations by 2040. Overall, we wanted to at least provide a timeline for this unique program that we have. Overall, I do like to point out that with all of these major milestones, the end result is one-third reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. within all of the city operations. That means some of the closed landfills, building energy efficiency, also street lighting. We have been converting those over the past years. So with overall reduction, I at least wanted to go through and at least talk about when the city implemented these one-of-a-kind program. In 2000, the actual department was created in about 2008, 2009. It was originally called Office of Environmental Policy. So we have been operating this program 17 years. In 2011, this is called a special revenue fund. The city calls it the energy efficiency fund, but it is a fund that actually revolves the savings. What this program done is the only really department that does this. We actually go out, we do retrofits, those create savings, we revolve that savings into the Energy Efficiency Fund, and we also seek CPS rebate. Again, we do own the two utilities, but because we're also a customer, we are able to receive one-time utility rebates for the projects that has been implemented. In 2013, the council did make the Energy Efficiency Fund a part of the budget process, so we do work with the budget department to be able to talk about projects, projects are accepted, and then the next fiscal year we implement them. It ties into 2019 with the SA Climate Ready adoption of net zero municipal buildings by 2040. and what a part of also leading by example in 2022 the city manager did sign ad 1.4 municipal facility energy policy this policy outlines procedures on how the city operates and maintains so here in this facility it does outline what temperature should be set during the summer what temperatures should be set during the winter at least you know we're asking resident maybe to reduce and we wanted to show as a city that we're also doing that and of course one of the major recent approval by this council in 2023 the first of its kind in texas the municipal on-site solar project i will talk a little bit more about it later but it was a 30.7 million dollar investment where we install solar, rooftops, carport canopy throughout the municipal sites and being able to generate savings and also pull on the tax credit. And which leads us to today as for an integrated municipal energy management. We're trying to work across all departments and being able to keep reducing energy, looking at what departments can do and also to what the residents can do. And we wanted to at least show this slide to at least inform this committee that we do measure, we do improve, and we do generate. Anything that starts with energy management, you do have to benchmark. And so the city, it was created in 2009. We used the free energy program, Energy Star Portfolio Manager. And we do have an analyst on staff that each month updates over 5000 utility data. We do have 200 approximately 280 facilities that we do benchmark. We do watch the energy use on a monthly basis and that also goes into our looking at the performance of the facility and what projects can be done and also to the savings. So that is the base or the core of an energy management program and we have been doing that since 2009. This leads into the energy efficiency fund, the special revenue fund, where we do annual retrofits through various projects. We seek the rebates from CPS or SAWS, and then we revolve that back into the fund. And of course, I will talk a little bit more about it, the municipal on-site solar project, where we're now generating energy, and at least... allowing the department who actually owns the facility and pays pay the utility bills now they're paying less which we are revolving to be able to pay for the solar and just to overall highlight of the energy efficiency fund since its inception since 2011 we've implemented over 400 projects 439 to date at over 190 facilities these projects included lighting retrofit, HVAC equipment upgrades, thermostat replacement, solar window film. We also replaced pumps on the city pools in certain locations. And what we have done since 2009 and 10, we have seen and that's able to be revolved back into the fund, over $1 million have been revolved. Each year within the Energy Efficiency Fund, we're able to revolve and take that money to be able to do other projects. Since 2011, we have received, and mainly from CPS Energy, $3.2 million. These are one-time payments, but that went into the fund to be able to be revolved and implement with other projects. In FY26, we have $3.2 million was adopted. We have five dedicated staff. We currently have one vacancy within that five dedicated staff. We will continue energy projects. The projects that are set for 2026, East Police Substation, Tobin Library, and the Thousand Oaks Library. I wanted to at least take a moment to just provide a summary on our unique first of its kind project. This is the first and largest government onsite project to date here in Texas. We are halfway through and the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027. It includes 52 sites that is made up of rooftop solar panels, carport solar panels, some a combination. I would like to also point out that, again, we are the first here in Texas and probably, I want to maybe stretch and say the United States, but we are the first to receive $1.2 million from the IRA, the tax credit. We were able to complete certain projects and we submitted through to the Internal Revenue Service and earlier this year we received a $1.2 million check. It was an actual check and it was not even believable by the CMO office. So that's how rare it was. But this is so unique because The ITC, the tax credit for solar, is the reason why we're able to do this project. For every $1 that we spend for these projects, we get 30 to 40 cents back. And the check that we received this year is one of three. So as we complete projects, and they will increase in size, but I really wanted to point out that We worked with our finance department, and it was really the finance department, thank you to them, that really submitted for this tax credit, but we didn't really think that we were going to get it back so soon. But in addition to the tax credit that is part of this project, once the project has been complete, we will see $1.8 million in utility savings. That is money that these departments will not have to pay on an annual basis to CPS Energy. To date, we have revolved over $800,000. The first project was up and running May, end of May 2024. The next month we saw savings and we were able to capture that. So to date, over $800,000, real dollars that the city is seeing, these departments are seeing, and of course ultimately the taxpayers' scene for this project. Chair and committee members, I at least wanted to point out with this slide of where these projects are located, 52 projects. Again, what's unique about this is that your typical or your traditional solar would be one large field in one part of town and then it's almost like that becomes a community solar. What we did for this project is that we made sure that we hit all council district and we were able with the 52 sites to at least hit community centers, libraries, police station, fire station, and some administrative buildings. Of course, based on the location, some council districts received more than others, but we were able to two or three in at least all 10 council district. Again, we're halfway there. And we will update this chart once it's completed. Again, I at least wanted to talk about the outcomes. We are hitting the community centers, senior centers, libraries, and other city facilities. And again, we are reducing the demand on the grid when it's too hot and in emergency operations. Overall, we will lower the total municipal building energy use by about 11% and overall greenhouse gas emissions for our facilities by almost 20%. In addition, producing energy, but we also provide shade and, of course, reducing the heat island effect. And this slides just show a snippet. Uh, we've completed a, uh, 34, um, sites to date. And at least we want it to represent the different council district here on the committee. Um, as far as the, the different, um, types of project, um, from left to right, the Quay, our community center, and that's a total roof project. And we just included costs and savings there. Um, district six Southwest service center, um, is probably the third largest, um, And that is District 5. We do have John Igoe Library. That's a combination of rooftop and carport for District 8. Garza Community Center, that was all rooftop. As you can see, they're a nice clean roof for District 7. And then District 10, we have the Northeast Senior Center. Seniors love parking their nice Cadillac underneath that carport canopy, I can tell you. It's a great benefit. And so for this program, again, we know that we have reductions, but again, our department, small and mighty, we still will implement these things, these projects, these measures, and working with other departments. We would like to expand the EEF project locations by types. We do or we will tap into energy on water efficiency. Slowly but surely our water cost has been increasing and we use water outside and a lot of times that's where saws will hit and the city pays the bills. So we are looking at water efficiency projects. Next fiscal year we do plan on doing a municipal energy long range plan and we hope to integrate, Laura will talk about that in our next presentation, EEF and the municipal solar projects into future bond programs. We'll work with BESD on deferred maintenance and any energy projects that we can be that possibly can be implemented alongside of them, and then maybe looking at battery storage in the future. We'll continue to track federal and state low-interest loans, tax credit, and rebates, and, of course, work with our local utility partners. And that concludes my presentation. We're here for questions.

Chairman, if I may, I just want to put one finer point on the tax credits. Those were made available through the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. They've since phased out. People often accuse government of moving too slowly. We moved quickly. It's a credit to Golda, to Ash Williams, and this team for taking advantage of it. They got the requisite purchases in before it was phased out. And as a result, it's saving money and having an impact for people. So I just wanted to point that out. You were asking about federal opportunities, and that's one that we're still reaping the benefits from.

Well, thank you so much for the presentation. And I also want to say thank you for the celebratory event we had with the darn installation earlier this year as well, where I got to see the big check. That was also great to see live and in person. I'm just thinking about, of course, all the folks who are at Big Sun Solar, who are doing incredible work here, building a local economy to do this work here. It's an incredible sight to see.

Really quick, before I get into community questions, which side of town has the most municipal solar projects?

Is it the west side? LOOKS LIKE THE WAY IT'S SAID TO ME. I'LL TAKE IT. WE'LL START THE CONVERSATION TODAY.

COUNCILMAN WHITE? THANKS, CHAIR. THANKS FOR THE PRESENTATION AND THANKS FOR KEEPING MY DISTRICT 10 CATALAX WELL COVERED. AND COOLED, YES. SO MY FIRST QUESTION IS, If we're prioritizing projects based on the highest return on investment first. So yeah, that's question one, and really sort of a What goes along with this is I'm looking at these on the slide you showed with my senior center and the others, $565,000 it cost, $28,000 in estimated annual savings. I mean, that's 20 years to recover the cost. Is that about normal or we think that's a good return or what?

That's normal in terms of the returns that we get in terms of the life cycle of solar projects. However, we are seeing an expedited return due to the tax credits being incorporated as well as the SECO loan, the low-interest SECO loan that is part of the financing of this project. This allows us to even recapture those funds, and it's not reflected in the savings dollars as a utility savings, but it is reflected in the project total cost of being recaptured earlier, even as early as 10 to 15 years, depending on the project.

And then if I could just add, Councilman, I think when we look at it from the total project, all of them assembled together, the payback we're looking at conservatively 8 to 10 years. the larger the system, the more cost efficiency is. So that was the other benefit of doing this way is that the larger systems can help offset some of the costs of the smaller systems. So if we look at it again as a total, it's much more cost effective.

Okay. And obviously, you know, before we keep doing these projects, I mean, we really need to be able to demonstrate that we are, they are financially beneficial. What other... energy efficiency projects are in the pipeline.

We do have, we plan to do a strategy for our municipal energy program in 2027. Previously we have completed lighting, interior, exterior lighting, those are usually the easiest. When we did get the first round, seeding this fund in 2008, 2009, the city went through and implemented lighting retrofit in over 130 facilities. As we got that returned, coupled with capital projects, retrofitting HVAC equipment. So we had chiller replacement, we have rooftop replacement, we also did pump replacement in addition to solar window fans. So as the years went on, you know, we hit the low hanging fruit and Laura may talk about it later, but we do have plans in 2027 do an energy master plan to be able to see our returns for all of the projects and what projects can we implement in the future.

Alex Martinez with Building and Equipment Services. I just wanted to add that in FY27, as part of the deferred maintenance program, we always incorporate energy efficient projects. So we have several fire stations where we're replacing the HVAC. We have roof replacements that we replace also with cooling roofs. And also we have some building envelope where we seal around the frames of the windows so that way right there doesn't go to that. So basically we have approximately 10 projects for FY27 schedule and we'll continue adding more as part of the deferred maintenance program that we have. Thank you.

And look, this is not an area of expertise of mine, and I don't honestly spend a ton of time looking at this, but I have been approached by a few groups who are interested in this, and it seems to me that where we are right now from a financial perspective, and where it looks like we're gonna be for the next half decade, maybe longer, that there is an opportunity here if we can legitimately show financial savings with some of these projects that now could be a time to really look at where these make sense and where we're getting the most return on our investment.

Absolutely. We utilize a tool called Energy Star Portfolio Manager to benchmark all of our buildings and evaluate their energy usage. That coupled with the initial list and evaluation that was done when the Energy Efficiency Fund was established, allows us to really understand what projects could we do next. Over the years, we have, as Golda explained, we have taken projects from that list, proposed them to Council and approved. They have been approved through every fiscal year's budget. This year, due to the reduced budget, we are proposing taking a pause so we can finalize our FY25 and 26 projects, as well as allow us to develop a more comprehensive energy long-range plan that would reevaluate the types of projects that we're doing, the types of facilities that we're looking at, and then be able to integrate it with the different financing mechanisms that we have, including bond, deferred maintenance, and so on.

Well, I love how y'all were willing to say, let's take a pause here this year and... potentially give up some of that money. So there is a master list of all city buildings by district and the amount of energy they use.

Yes, for the facilities that we monitor, yes, we do have them in Portfolio Manager.

And would it be fair to say that you wouldn't argue that some of these energy efficiency projects are right for every single building?

It really depends on various elements of the building, including the age, the material, and really the type of plans that are in bond plans, capital improvement plans for the building as well as deferred maintenance. So we make sure and we coordinate with other departments so that we are not duplicating any projects that we are investing in facilities that are going to continue to operate and are gonna give us the maximum return on investment in those savings.

Okay, thank you. Thanks, Chair. Thank you. Anybody else have any questions on this one? Council Member Castile?

GOING FOR THE PRESENTATION. MORE COMMENT THAN QUESTION. WHEN I SEE A $3.2 MILLION REBATE AND THEN I BELIEVE IT'S ONE POINT SOMETHING MILLION IN COST SAVINGS, AND THEN I SEE THE BUDGET BOOK WITH THE REDUCTION TO SUSTAINABILITY, IT JUST SEEMS LIKE WITH THESE INITIATIVES UNDER YOUR DEPARTMENT, IT It's self-liquidating, right? So it just doesn't make sense. And I understand this is more of a council conversation in terms of budget priorities, but just seeing the amount of cost savings that we're seeing under this department, it just gives me concern that we are going to pause on initiatives that we are seeing cost savings.

Thank you, council. We agree. It's really, really important work. I just want to make clear the positions that work on the energy efficiency fund program are funded through the energy efficiency fund. So there's no savings to the general fund there. So our, our reductions are related to those positions that were funded by Reese funding, which has since been rededicated to the general fund. But Your point is very well taken and we appreciate it.

Yeah, so I appreciate that. I understand it's on the presentation that all five positions will be funded, but I think it all runs parallel and in sync, right? And they complement one another in terms of sustainability and reducing costs, right? Because the value of this is we're saving costs for the taxpayer because our utility bill will be lower. But what's just as important is ensuring that our constituents, you know, are also lowering their bill through the many other initiatives that the sustainability department provides. But thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Jack.

Thank you.

Just definitely want to ditto everything Councilman Castillo said.

heard there. Anyone else have any questions? All right. Well, again, thank you for the presentation. I think, of course, as you go through the long range plan, very eager to see that come back to the committee as well so we can take a look at what that can all look like, what kind of cost savings we could potentially see at all of our buildings in some form, especially as we look at water efficiency in tandem with this work. I mean, I think especially right now, of course, we're not going to see immediate savings tomorrow, which we could immediately. But as we talk about, of course, beyond our budget cycle at City Council, thinking about what's the long-term look at how we save costs here, along with bringing more revenue to our city. I mean, this is a very clear one right here. And so excited to see what that will look like. Excited to see how we can accelerate some of this work, too, with our bond programs as much as possible. But yeah, thank you all again for the presentation. All right. Last but certainly not least, we have item number four, update on sustainable infrastructure with a focus on VIA's public transit updates. Go ahead, Razi.

Good morning, Chairman and committee member. I am Razi Hosseini, Vice President of Engineering at VIA. Thank you for your opportunity to present our bus shelter program. We have 6,096 active bus stops, 2,370 of them has a shelter, 1,485 of them has lights, and 3,790 has no shelter. These numbers are as of summer of this year. Over the past decades, VIA has installed several style of bus shelter. As you see on this picture, the latest one is the last decade or so we have been installing. We call NextGen, which is 980, 18 of them, total are 672, and you see this other. Those top three shelter, all of them has lights. The recent installation, the remaining do not have lights. This is some additional shelter picture you see on this screen. Every year, roughly three times per year, whenever we change the service, we score all of those bus shelters to see they meet the bus shelter installation requirement. The criteria include average daily boarding, average bus pick-over frequency, number of the routes at the stop, And any of following facility within 800 foot of stop on either side is gets additional point. Medical facility, educational facility, community center, grocery store, multifamily. Stop with the score of 15 or higher evaluated for shelter installation. 345 location without shelter. They do meet shelter requirement, but they do not have shelter today. 151 have right of a restriction. We require a minimum of 9 foot from back of the curb to private property line. Of desire is 11 foot, but minimum of 9 foot to be able to install shelter. 133 location in process of field confirmation. These location meets the shelter requirement, but we need to make sure there is ample right-of-way we can go and build and install shelter. 25 location is ready for installation. As the shelter comes available, we install on those 25 location. and 36 foundation are committed with other agencies like COSA or TxDOT. When they will build the foundation, we go and install shelter. The process for shelter installation is, of course, they have to have a scoring 15 or higher. We survey to make sure there is minimum of nine foot, desired is 11 foot right away available. Obtain permit from required agency, most of them from COSA, City of San Antonio. First we construct concrete foundation, and of course then schedule shelter installation. As part of our proposed 2027 budget, which will board approving late September, we are proposing to be able to install 100 brand new shelter. Our goal is to install a shelter and all of the location meet the shelter requirement in next few years. In addition to our shelter program, also I want to provide you update on our advanced rapid transit program. This is our typical bus station. We don't call those shelter anymore because they are much, much bigger than bus, our typical bus shelter. Our green line, many of you know, is under construction and construction will be done in substantially completed in spring of 2028. The limit is from US 281 to Steve mostly on San Pedro. 11 mile corridor improvement. 31 new station and improvement to eight existing downtown shelter. Slightly under seven mile of sidewalk we are going to build. 13 new signalized pedestrian crossing. All utility updated. 10 minute frequency on the weekdays and 15 on weekend. The hour of operation, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the weekdays and 6 to 7 on weekend. On Silver Line, which is under design, we just got 70% design we are reviewing, anticipating this project goes to construction sometime summer, fall of next year. the limit of the project from General McMullen to Frost Bank, mostly on Commerce and Buena Vista, 7.3 mile corridor improvement, 24 new station and improvement to nine existing downtown shelter, six mile of new sidewalk, nine new signalized pedestrian crossing, Utility upgrade and same frequency with the green line 10 minutes weekdays 15 minutes on the weekends and of course our operation is 6 a.m. To 9 p.m. After this project is a Common line these has a lot benefit for our community one is Because of 10-minute frequency, we are anticipating a good number of the people will be riding this one. That means we are going to reduce the number of the private vehicles on the roadway, which helps air quality, which we were talking about. It reduces accidents on the roadway because we are going to reduce some of the vehicles. All of those traffic signals on intersections, they will be synchronized If individuals driving posted speed limit, they will reach all of the green light. That means less delay for the public and also reduce air quality. In addition to Bus shelter, we also have additional program. I want Sean to come over there. During the summer days, you know, the temperature is 100 degree. We are staffs goes around and passes a cold bottle of water, anybody's on those bus shelter or even bus stop to make sure they at least have a cold weather. I want Sean to talk about that program also. Thank you, Avi.

Good morning, Chair and Councilman. I'm Sean Kagan, the Vice President of Safety Training and System Security at VIA. As Rizey mentioned, I just want to take a minute to talk about a campaign out of care, concern, and prevention, and that's our water distribution program. We know the summer months here could be brutal, and as temperatures rises, we know temperatures could rise too. So just as a general act of care and concern, throughout those summer months on days where it reached those triple digits, we're out there passing out bottles of water to our passengers just out of the act of care and concern, and thanking them for riding via. We know it's a small act that goes a long way, but on any given week, we could pass out 600 bottles of water and usually 5,000 bottles of water during the summer months. So it's a program that we're proud to do, and we look forward to continuing to do it. We do it on select routes throughout the area and at our transit centers because we know those are transfer points for our passengers. Any questions? I don't know what you want.

I think at this time I'm going to pass to Leslie. After her presentation is done, then we can ask questions. Thank you.

Leslie? Good morning, committee and chair. My name is Leslie Antunes. I'm the Sustainability Administrator with the Department of Resilience and Sustainability. I oversee our community projects and all of our urban heat island work. I want to thank Rozzy for his presentation and really for setting the for this conversation. As we saw, VIA has an extensive network of bus stops, and while they have installed shelters at every stop that have met the criteria and are continuing to work on building and closing those gaps, some still remain without a shelter. The following will provide an overview of how the partnership between the Department of Resilience and Sustainability and VIA will try to fill the gaps and provide solutions for those existing infrastructure and environmental challenges, ensuring we can support long-term ridership, growth, sustainability, while keeping residents safe and more comfortable during harsher climates. So, you know, again, we really always go back to our roadmap, the State Climate Ready Plan and our heat resilience playbook. And that's where, again, we were looking to ensure that we're addressing these needs. And this project really looks at how do we modernize infrastructure that is going to stay up to the existing changes to our climate and all of the new things that we're seeing with our increasing heat and extreme weather in our city. So the scope of this project is really simple. We really wanted to make sure that we hit what we needed to and prioritize what was important to us. And so that was really to identify these amenities and improved design of existing shelters to prioritize safety and comfort for our riders and really looking at developing shade options for these spaces that are constrained due to right of way or sidewalk or things like that. And then the other thing we're looking at is making sure that we're using reflective and cool materials and architecture design to provide that heat relief. As far as status and funding, we received council-approved funding in 2024, FY24, for $1 million to pilot this program. And this year, we have entered into our construction and implementation phase with West East as our architecture consultant and Jameel Smith as our construction partner for this project. implementation. We will hopefully begin with construction here at the end of this fiscal year and into the start of the new one and then we'll have that completed shortly so that we can invite you all to celebrate those new infrastructure projects. So what makes this project different and what are we looking at and what did we consider? Through our research and through all of our work we were able to identify that we wanted to prioritize our heat protection and weather resilience, right? And so what that looks like, we know the summers here are hot. The graph on the top of your screen will show you a summary of just when we see those peak heat times. Obviously we see the start of our summer start in in May and that takes us into probably early October and then you can see during the the average times your your heat starts to really creep up at 10 a.m and goes into 10 p.m so that's a significant area or time concern that we wanted to address with these shelter designs. Our architecture partner was able to go ahead and use this information and then really look at how we're designing and what design elements we're going to bring to ensure that we're maximizing the shade during these peak times. So as you can see in the figure below in the slide, we're really looking at orientation and maximizing on those features of the shelter. Here is a sample of a conceptual design. And what I really want to draw your attention to is you can see here what we've been talking about and what we've been intentional with. That the shade that is being cast by the shelter is directly over where the residents are going to be waiting for the bus, right? It's not behind, it's not to the side. It's not on the street where it's not helping anybody. And so that's really what we wanted to show with this example. You can also see some of the innovative architecture design features. We've got a double layer roof. This is gonna help with airflow and circulation while protecting the resident from rain or any of the other elements. We've got, of course, local identity with our side panels. This will be in partnership with VIA, with our arts department and the communities where we're installing these to make sure that these align with those needs and help make this also a beautiful thing to look at. Our perforated shade panels are going to provide that healing, that cooling effect and so you'll see that allow for the breeze to come through and also again each one will have a different length or a different you know allocation so that it can protect that rider throughout the most time in those peak summer times and then for the bench seating you'll see that this is a little bit different we're using concrete or concrete or different materials that are not going to absorb the heat like a traditional metal bench does. So we want to make sure that, again, we're looking at all of the elements of the shelter to ensure that while the rider is waiting 10, 15 minutes that it's got comfort and support for them. WHEN WE LOOK AT WHERE THESE ARE LOCATED, I WANT TO NOTE THAT OUR SITE SELECTIONS CONSIDERED THE SILVER AND GREEN LINE IMPROVEMENTS, SO YOU'LL SEE HOW THERE REALLY ISN'T, YOU KNOW, REPRESENTATION ALONG NORTH, SOUTH, AND WEST AND EAST DUE TO THOSE, AND WE ALSO TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION VIA'S RIDERSHIP CRITERIA and then looked at our high heat areas from our research with UTSA to understand really where the most need was. And so this is the representation of that. Our red dots are the 13 sites that have already gone through preliminary evaluation and are moving forward with the construction process. Our yellow sites, we are entering two of those into initial evaluation and the remaining three will remain our backup sites in case we run into any challenges or we need to make some switches in our implementation phase. And as we kind of wrap this up and come to an end, I just want to really highlight the importance of partnership and collaboration. This is a very intensive partnership with internal and external partners, VIA, we've got our city leadership, we've got Public Works, CDD, we have OHP, we have arts, we have a lot of people at the table really ensuring that we're listening to all of the different folks. We will enter into community engagement as we continue in this process and so we'll definitely engage you and keep you updated with that and again just really want to thank our city leadership our sustainability and resilience team and really want to just give a highlight to our summer intern she's an architecture student at UTSA and she's really dived into this and has really helped keep everything coordinated and moving. So I just want to really highlight those folks that help us keep this moving forward. So I think that's going to do it for me. I'm going to pause for questions. Thank you so much for your time.

All right, y'all. Last segment and we're done with this item, I promise. So I want to briefly highlight the sustainable infrastructure work beyond transportation and mobility. that our department is advancing in partnership with the Capital Delivery Department and Public Works Department. So this update is a response to Chair Galvan's request and today we'll provide a very high level overview and we are having a more detailed bond presentation of City Council in the near future led by the Capital Delivery Department. So we'd be happy to return after that with more detailed briefing on this work. Sustainable infrastructure is fundamental to our resilience and sustainability goals. San Antonio needs infrastructure that costs less to operate, uses resources more efficiently, and is built for future conditions. And so our goal is to move from individual project evaluation to a more consistent standardized approach citywide. embedding resilience and sustainability into how we design and deliver infrastructure. And it's important to note that we're not starting from scratch. Many of these practices have already been implemented today. Two of those really brief examples that demonstrate these principles in action are the South Alamo Project and the Broadway Corridor Project. South Alamo demonstrates a complete streets approach, integrating pedestrian, bicycle, transit, vehicle, and tree infrastructure into one corridor. Broadway, on the other hand, incorporates green stormwater infrastructure, native landscaping, permeable pavers, trees and energy-efficient and dark-sky compliant lighting. And a Broadway corridor project was also recognized by the AGC Build America Award. These projects demonstrate that sustainable infrastructure is really already happening in San Antonio. These, like I said, these are just two examples from the 2022 and earlier bond programs, but we're building on that foundation and the learnings for the future. Our department, Resilience and Sustainability, established an interdepartmental working group for sustainable infrastructure. and that group developed six guiding principles for future capital planning. We've also partnered with ITSD to create a centralized data library to support project identification and evaluation, and through that also developed a scorecard with criteria and metrics across the five propositions to support future project rankings. So throughout this work, we continue to evaluate peer city best practices and identify opportunities that make sense for San Antonio. And finally, this work is, again, just want to highlight its true collaboration, and it cannot move forward without the leadership of the Capital Delivery Department and the Public Works Department. So looking ahead, we will see CDD leading implementation with DRS supporting integration of resilience and sustainability throughout the process from project scoring to staff guidance and training to standardized plan notes and material specifications informed by what we're learning from our own city pilots as well as other cities. And so the goal is really simple. It's making our sustainable infrastructure consistent and a standardized approach of how we plan, design, build, and maintain our infrastructure. So with that, I'll wrap it up and we'll take questions. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for the presentation today. Would anybody like to start the conversation or questions? All right. Councilor Castillo.

Thank you everyone for the presentation. This is a really exciting item because I had just had a conversation with my brother about just overall bus shelters and one that came to mind and I was measuring it during the conversation after looking at the bus stop improvement scoring criteria, right? and it's a bus stop off of Nogalitos and Culberson. So I measured it based off of the requirements and it's 500 feet away from a multifamily development. It's two feet away from a grocery store and 805 feet away from an elementary school. So I'll send over this bus stop number to VIA so that way it could be considered for a potential bus shelter. And that one came to mind because I was at the Norm Oil Senior Center my car died and I got a jump and I took it to the auto zone on Culberson and Salsamora. So while they were charging my battery to see if it had life or not, I was like, okay, well, I'll go visit my mom who lives down in Nogalitos. So instead of paying a $16 Uber, I was like, I'll pay a dollar and a couple of cents to just jump on Via, get off at the stop. And while I was waiting there, it's in front of a grocery store and I see so many families with bags of groceries. And I'm thinking like, man, It was hot, the sun's beaming. I was fine, but I was thinking about folks having bags of dairy, meat, and their groceries just waiting there until the bus comes by. So again, I'll send along that bus stop number. But I just really appreciate the criteria. I was always curious in terms of how areas were identified for bus shelter. So I'm pleased to see that laid out here. I'm grateful for the coordination with the sustainability team on how we can ensure that we're intentional with the infrastructure, particularly with like the cement blocks that were presented, right? Because I always share I was public transit dependent up until I made it to the runoff in my election. And man, it's rough. And when it's cold downtown, when there's not a screen to block the wind, like it's rough waiting for the bus downtown. So just grateful to see just the different work in terms of the different options. I'm curious if offline you can provide my team with just a cost breakdown. So with the bus stop shelter types, like what is the average cost? And then also, for example, it's not necessarily a bus shelter, but there are some stops that just have like two seats attached to the pole. I'm curious to what the cost is because I understand in terms of like the funding to via limited resources right away so on and so forth but we've talked about internally as an office how can we potentially use CIP resources to help support a bus shelter in our district?

Councilwoman first of all I could use that 1.8 million check they got. Average bus stop today, we are anticipating to cost $40,000 or so, depending on the size of it. They are as small as probably 8 foot or so. They are as big as 20-some foot. And depending on the location and the foundation, but average is $40,000. And also, we are really looking to buy new shelters. We have been in communication with many, many manufacturers. We are really looking very seriously to have type of the roof to reflect the heat and the sun rather than really passing down to the people standing under that.

And can you talk a little bit about the right-of-way process, right? Because I'm thinking about District 5, where older infrastructure, narrow sidewalks, limited space, right? So that can limit the size and or a bus shelter being placed. Can you walk me through, like, if there is a high need or a route where we're seeing a lot of activity, folks getting on and off, it meets all the metrics that are laid out, but there's not enough right-of-way, what steps does VIA take to potentially enter an agreement in terms of how can we acquire more property to accommodate a bus shelter?

Yeah, when any bus stop miss the shelter installation, that's just a number-wise, 15 and higher, then my team physically goes to the field to survey the area. Do we have sidewalk? Do we have wheelchair ramp? Because we really don't want to build a shelter if there is no sidewalk or wheelchair ramp. And that's the reason I said $40,000 average cost, because also we build a sidewalk, additional sidewalk, to get to Pashto or wheelchair ramp, if you look. Regarding, let's say there is a place, there is no nine-foot minimum right of way for it to build. We approach the property owner. Hoping they give us the free of charge easement to build or we buy from them. Unfortunately, certain part of, especially old part of city, we have building at the property line. Those area is really tough to buy because this building, you really have to move the building. Our plan is to work with public works department and transportation rather than buying private property to see can we reduce the street slightly to move the curb to give us that additional two or three feet we need to us to be able to build that shelter.

And then I guess, are there any examples, right? And typically, like, I guess I'm thinking again, right, of District 5, it would be like likely, I think there was one example that we sent on Cassieville Road and there wasn't enough right-of-way, it was a vacant lot, back taxes, so on and so forth. So understanding there's not a property owner necessarily to communicate with to enter an agreement. But does VIA have, VIA does have the ability for eminent domain for like two feet, three feet to accommodate for best shelter. And how do y'all, and this could be an offline conversation about how you all evaluate when there's value in taking that step.

First of all, we could condemn, like city could do also. That's really last option we use. We want to really explain the property owner why it's really important for our community. And many times they agree. I have Abigail from our office. She does the real estate. Abigail, you want to talk a little more, please? Sure.

Hi. Good morning. Abigail Kennison, Director of Real Estate and Capital Amenities. Rozzy is absolutely right. We do have the power of eminent domain, but that is our last resort. We prefer to negotiate and discuss with the property owners or see if we can adjust the stop slightly to better accommodate passengers. Another reason we often don't use eminent domain for bus stops and shelters is that our system changes. We've just gone through the better bus system, that's gonna continue. So as those improvements change, stop locations can as well. So it's kind of that balance of how much do we wanna invest? as far as a location that may change in the future.

Thank you, Abigail. I appreciate that context, and thank you, Rozzy. My last comment, again, as you all work towards implementing and placing more bus shelters, I would strongly encourage looking beyond the silver and green line. Many of my residents have to walk to get to some of these main corridors, but they'll walk to a bus stop to connect and transfer, right? So I just want to show that we're being mindful of those networks that don't necessarily connect directly to the silver or green line, but have a high use.

That's a good point, Councilwoman. Actually, the 150 we are planning to build next year and, of course, probably another 150 years after that, they are not going to be on Green Line or Silver Line because we already have buses stationed, already budgeted to build that one. This will be outside of those two major corridors.

Great. Thank you, Razi. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Councilor Alderete-Gavito?

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Rozzy, and others for the presentation. You know, I mean, I know that we've, I think ever since I was on the VIA Board, we've been harping about VIA bus shelters. Actually, a friend of mine who actually lives in District 8 was just texting me about this. Like, as Councilwoman Castillo said, that they're watching older people with groceries, you know, waiting for buses with no shelter. So thank you, Councilwoman Castillo, for asking about the cost of installation. I mean, and we can take this conversation offline, but I do think that if there are ways that we could speed up the process for more bus shelters, and I do echo the sentiments of Councilwoman Castillo, also not just on the green and silver line, right? We know a lot of investment is going there. We're excited about it. But there's also so many arteries that will flow into the green and silver line that we need to take into consideration too. So if there's ways that we can partner to speed up the process, then let me know. And again, I know it will all come back to funding. And I know that VIA is severely underfunded, right? Because we do have that those portions of the penny going to pre-K for essay or ready to work or other things like that too. And so it's easy for us to say, oh, V is not doing their job, V is not doing their job, but we as a city are also not giving you all the resources that you need. And we see Austin and Dallas's public transportation system really taking off and able to accommodate their residents and their growth, and we're struggling. I just think that we have to also look inward to see how we're not necessarily setting you all up for success through decisions that we, and I'm saying we holistically as a city have made.

Councilwoman, you have a good point, and let me tell you what we are going to do to be able to build 150 next year. As of today, We install bus shelter on those area meets the requirement when the existing bus shelter comes available. When we are removing one, physically we remove, repair it, it needs to be painted, we need to put on the new location. We are going to advertise to buy brand new. We are working with some manufacturer, not just to buy brand new shelter, also make sure shelter, especially the roof, is such reflects the heat. On top of that, we have advertised on-call contractor. In the past, it used to take us long time to go, you were on the board, to board approve the project. After our board of trustee approves the capacity of the contractor, then really sky's the limit. As the bus shelter location comes available, we are going to build it and install bus shelter.

Yeah, that's helpful to know. Thanks, Rozzy. And now I think we have almost over 1,700 students who have signed up for the free via bus pass. So we'll need to make sure that they have shelter as well. I'm sorry, were you going to say something?

Yeah, I just wanted to add, we've had a great partnership with the city of San Antonio over the past, 10, 15 years, we leverage bond projects and even IMP projects and we gain shelter sites through those projects. As you know, they have a long lead time. So those are some of the projects that were, you know, we make comments during the design phase and we see them through during construction and then we install shelters or we gain shelters at stops that exist on those corridors throughout the city. We calculated it several months ago. It was over 600 stops that have been improved through city bond projects. So there's a leverage happening. The other thing I'll mention is that through the Better Bus Plan, frequencies are improving. So folks are spending less time at a stop. It's still very important, but that is helping to improve that.

Yeah, and I saw, because I recently attended the State of Transit, which was great, by the way, and I think y'all are taking on two more million passengers or something like that, if I'm remembering correctly. So we definitely want VIA to obviously be there at a more frequent basis. I know frequency is the name of the game for you all. And also too, obviously, if the buses are more frequent, then people are not having to wait with their groceries as long and that kind of stuff. Sorry, Tom, were you going to mention something?

Yeah, thank you, Councilwoman. And just like your student pass program, which actually as of yesterday was at 1,998. So we're 49 away from double what we did during the pilot program last semester for that annual pass. And so we're pushing to even add another 1,000 after that. But the increase there was technology, right? Instead of the old program for the semester pass was technology. A student had to print off a paper form, take it to their school, get it signed up. And so we fully took it online so they literally can go, they can find their school, they can submit it. And then their school does the verification that originally required a principal signature. So we then mail the pass to the school. The school distributes it so they don't have to visit a transit center or stop at all. So ultimately, that's actually the best plan for a shelter is no shelter at all because we have less transfers, so less waiting time. You start, you get off, you get on another bus. So that's the better bus plan that's connecting routes and making your trip longer while you're on a climate-controlled bus. But at the same time, in the next couple of weeks, so I'm making the roundabout to that technology piece, We're launching a new app. That's going to integrate the via link app and our normal routed service into the same app. And it's going to have the familiarity of Uber, where you can see where all the vehicles are right today. If you want to know how long your weight is, you have to text a number. It tells you how long you'll actually be able to pull it up. So you can actually wait inside, uh, instead of at, at a shelter or, you know, Hey, it's, it's down the street. So now I have to walk out to the shelter. So that. That's ultimately going to be the best thing. Cause the, just to put it in perspective, you know, the 2,500 shelters that we have at 40,000 a piece, that's a hundred million dollars. That's about a little over a, you know, a third of our annual budget and just the 150 shelters is $6 million. So we're, we're trying to, if we can put that, those dollars into the transit system to get more buses faster, you know, John Gary likes to talk about that, that slope, right. Of the closer we can get to zero to 10 minutes wait time. the more people really want to use our system.

Well, thank you for that update. And y'all have been such great partners with that student pass and really listening to students' testimonials on how much of a difference that pass is making in their lives, I think is all that we need to obviously keep going. And so thank y'all for y'all's help with that. And I see what you're saying about how, you know, if we invest in more frequent stuff, we're not necessarily having to invest in kind of the hardest, So thank you for y'all's continued work. My team and I have an ideal brewing, so we're going to be talking to you all soon, and hopefully my colleagues here, too, can sign on to it. So thanks again. Thanks, Chair.

Thank you. Councillor White? Yeah, briefly, Razi, first of all, great to see you back in the building. That's it.

It was hard to get in, Councilman.

Yeah, well, they don't let me in sometimes, too, but it's like old times, so good to see you. And Tom as well, always. Always good to see you. Just real quick on the scorecards. Are they going to include lifecycle costs and maintenance and operating costs rather than just the upfront construction piece?

No, Councilman. In order to really save our community, when there is a need, we are building those shelter units. We want to build the shelter. It requires minimum maintenance. That's one of our major focus when we are talking with the manufacturer. We want to make sure this is in public right away. More likely going to be abused by some individual. We want to make sure it's easy to replace, easy to maintain.

Okay. And are we looking to make these investments

Areas with the highest ridership I would imagine the correct. That's good. Yeah.

Okay.

All right. Well, that's that's really That's really all I had. Thank you all y'all for the work Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation just a quick comment on the shaded bus shelter pilot understand the What is it the I lost my train of thought. I understand that the, um, Oh my God, I lost it. What was I going to say? I was trying to talk about Vance Jackson. Sorry. Uh, Vance Jackson road. Uh, we got this in a, at the budget town hall. Um, um, uh, somebody asked about the, uh, stops on Vance Jackson between Heidner and does a Vala. So I just wanted you guys to consider, uh, that does not have a shade. Um, and Vance Jackson, we know goes from four 10, all the way to 16, no four. And there's so much industry around that area. District 8 has the most apartments in the entire city. We've got a lot of hotels coming up by the rim with UTSA and the activity there at Fiesta, Texas. And so just want to make sure if there's any possibility to add any shade structures along that Van Jackson route would be helpful. And District 8 is really one of the easier districts for just along I-10. and every major exit from Wurzbach to 1604, a little past that. And so there's traffic coming in and out of there constantly, especially with the medical center, those large employers like USAA. So I just want to see if any of those red dots that are along on that map, if any of them can maybe be along I-10 would be nice, which is on slide 19, I believe. Is it 19? Yeah.

We'll look at the schedule and see if there's any changes. Like Rozzy mentioned, they evaluate a couple times a year, and so some of them drop off, some of them come on, and so we're kind of trying to catch them as we're seeing them. So we'll definitely take another look and see if that will be something we can implement or change. Definitely we want to learn from these, and so if there's a... The section of the city, we could definitely take that into account and see how we can consider and keep planning for those down the line. But we'll work with the team and we'll follow up. Okay, thank you so much.

Real quick, Councilman. Sorry, for the record, Tom Marks, Vice President of Government Affairs and Community Engagement for VIA. We're still continuing the Better Bus Program, and so there's going to be considerable upgrades in about the next year coming to your district, specifically because of the UTSA connection to downtown. So I-10 is a very important corridor for us, but it's also moving out into that Vance Jackson and that Heber area as well, too.

Awesome. Well, count me in for a ride. Absolutely. Thank you.

Plus, we have to keep connecting Clark to the student passport.

Yes. Thank you.

All right. Thank you so much. Any other questions?

Anybody?

All right. I'll just wrap up with a couple of quick things. Really appreciate the conversation today on this and all the updates related to bringing some more shade for our folks who use public transit. It's an incredible part of our community, an incredible part of my life as well. And just thinking about being able to get through the city comfortably with ease is, I know, VIA's main priority. Grateful to see all the work, too, that's been done since the Shade is Art CCR from a couple of years ago, that kind of working group between Arts, Public Works, and everybody at VIA to deliver some of this work here. If I can ask really quickly, what's been the work with or coordination with AMPO with these bus shelters? Has there been any support from the AMPO on this?

So we've been in contact with the AMPO for the overall plan of the update for SACR 2035. And so they were excited to hear about the pilot. And so definitely, again, transportation is a very big priority for them. So there are stakeholders that we're keeping updated with the progress. their focus is a little more aligned with their priorities and they're working through different funding mechanisms and so right now it's just mostly that idea sharing and really one of the deliverables from this project is that when we're done, we're going to have a playbook that we can share with VIA, that we can share with AMPO, that we can share with ACOG and Central and all of our other partners in the city where This is a shade design that works that anybody can pick up and run with, and so that's also one of the deliverables. So definitely we're keeping them in the loop and engaged, and we can definitely connect with them and connect them to the park.

That's great.

So we are partnering with the MPO on a study of our older shelter structures. So the next gen is one of the newest shelter structures, but we worked with them to fund a study to structurally look at our maintenance practices. And is there a way to kind of extend the life? or are they kind of at the end of their life, and is there another recommendation? So we're wrapping that study up right now with them through the NPO. So that's sort of connected.

Got it. Thank you. I think those are the words we're looking for, too. Any kind of additional funding we can get to continue working on some of this stuff to accelerate the work, of course, always excited to see if we are able to do that. I know their process to get funding is a bit lengthy. But nonetheless, I would be interested in seeing how we can do that. Along with, I know, in the 2024 meeting in this committee, we talked a bit about, or Crystal Jones talked a bit about different national arts grants as well to help assist with some of these developments. I don't know if we've been seeking any of those. But I'd be interested in seeing any kind of braided funding we can do for all this kind of work, even if it's only at certain stops, based on the community engagement we get. on different stops in the area. This would be interesting to see how we can kind of augment some of these costs and hopefully accelerate as much as possible.

Well, we do have the art and transit program that we administer through through VIA. Right now, it's focused mostly on the the green line and silver line. So we're actually wrapping up the green line and that's all of the, you know, the shade, you know, metal backgrounds of the stations are all going to be art from, you know, within one mile of the high school or middle school student from that area. And so We're planning it right now, but we're actually going to have an event with those students where we want to give them a framed version of their artwork that's then going to be on the station. We're still working through the process on Silver Line. It looks like, you know, some of the stations, as a former D5 staffer, you saw that great Papel Picado piece on Zarzamora, so it's very similar to that. We're also, you know, ideating around different adopt-a-shelter programs. I mean, the Boys and Girls Club, has reached out to us different organizations where they would like some sort of representation. So we don't know what that would look like, but we could incorporate something like that that would include an art piece. That's great. That's here. Thank you. Sure.

One of the last things I wanted to ask was... Is VIA going to be developing any kind of publicly accessible kind of view of what the stops that we're looking at improving, what the costs are, where they're at, any kind of prioritization list being done? I think about the bike network plan that we have with the transportation department that kind of listed out all the different improvements we've got to have to help make the bike connectivity in our city better. And, you know, we do something out, hey, look, this is going to take a long time to get all these things done. But here are the priority ones that we're looking at. I'm wondering, because I often use that along with other kind of reports for my NAMP and CIP funding, of course my own personal use of that, to kind of see if we can double up investments there. I think to Council Member Castillo's point, if there's any kind of cost that we can have there, any priority ones that we're seeing that have priority or a lot of ridership in the area or are frequently used or whatever it may be that needs that shade structure there, I'd be interested in seeing what that could look like for ourselves to review as we make those decisions as well. I don't know what the intensive work would look like for that on the staff end, But is that something that Via was thinking about or the collaborative effort here would consider?

Chairman, as we score them, the highest score, we start with those first. And the second thing we look over, do we have the right of way? If we have the right of way and higher score, they are first on the list. And of course, we go farther down. We have a little over 300 meets the requirement and we don't have a shelter yet. We are planning 150 for 27. That's almost reduced by our backlog by almost 40% or so. Then the remaining, we will be doing probably in 2028. The remaining going to be have a little challenge because many of them has a right-of-way challenges. Some is probably easier to get than other, but we will work on to our goal is to really any shelter in San Antonio meets the shelter requirement for us to install shelter there.

Got it. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Well, thank you again. Those are all my questions. Any last comments on this item? All right. Thank you all so much to all the teams who are here today to help out with all these presentations. Really appreciate it. And at 12.03 p.m., we will officially adjourn the meeting. Thank you all.